


gentle: free from harshness, sternness, or violence

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [59]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Becoming a Seed Guy (Dimension 20), Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canon-Typical Violence, Devotion, Gen, Light Angst with a Happy Ending, gentleness and wonder and peace, hard one to tag gang, mentions of cumulous-typical animal death, setting aside violence after you've finally achieved your life's purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25742263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: Cinnamon eats a fruit. Cumulous kisses a hen. These things are related, and they're not.
Relationships: Cumulous Rocks & The Magic of Candia
Series: dimension 20 [59]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39





	gentle: free from harshness, sternness, or violence

Cinnamon eats the fruit. 

The tree that stands in front of Castle Candy, the tree with chocolate colored bark and foil-patterned leaves sways and Cinnamon moves and for the first time it is gentle and it is a new and an odd sensation but it is one that Cinnamon thinks perhaps he could get used to. 

As he looks upon the world the hunger that consumed him is instead replaced with wonder and it is a new and odd sensation but as it crashes over him like a cresting wave of fire he thinks it’s an oddness he would like to revel in, so he does.

Inside the castle with a courtyard that houses a tree with chocolate bark and foil-patterned leaves, Cumulous sees an armory full of weapons and shelves full of artifacts that sparkle and shine with magic and as he holds them in his hands and feels the magic thrum and they lie heavy with weight that makes them _real_ , he thinks about being young and having Lazuli entrust him to the Order of the Spinning Star. 

He thinks about her teaching him about their homeland’s magic and he thinks about when he’d first held the Fluffwind in his hands and how he’d cried, then, at the _trust_. How he’d sworn to himself that he would die before Candia’s magic would and all the years he spent training to make that promise a threat.

He thinks about hearing word of Lazuli’s death and standing with his order, left as a last defense. Thinks about the long years spent not alone, but how watching something crumble with a crowd at your back doesn’t make the weight of failure lie any lighter, and he thinks about being left to preserve with the knowledge that preservation will not work forever and the knowledge that despite their work, their efforts would not ever come to fruition.

He thinks about doing his best to keep the magic standing and watching it drain away anyway, perhaps slower than it was but still steady despite their efforts, thinks about Snickersnack bringing news of yet another teleportation circle lost to them, another circle of standing stones desecrated. Thinks about the swords with dull blades and the bows with their strings loose and the horrible, horrible reality of watching your most beloved thing crumble in front of you.

He thinks about finally, _finally_ being called to war. About seeing the King’s Sword and the Twizzling Blade and the Puckering Bow; the Sucker Shield and the Broadsicle, the weapons of legend held in front of him _whole_ and _magical_ and how the tears that fell were of _relief_ and _hope_ and _I might yet live to see our work completed_.

Then, seeing the _hall_. The Ringpop lying on a shelf, artifacts and weaponry and a room that stands as a beacon of hope and success and _magic_ that Cumulous had never dreamed he’d actually get to see, and he holds the magic to his chest and he weeps and he treasures it, even as he knows the work isn’t done yet.

He thinks about snapping tiny necks in his hands for the extra edge because nothing matters except Candia’s magic and the work _isn’t done yet_.

Thinks about _I will die before Candia’s magic does and that is a promise and a threat_ and _I will die before these people do because they hold the magic of Candia in their hands and that is a threat_ and _I will die before this queen does because she doesn’t just hold the magic of Candia within herself, she overflows with it, and that is a threat._

He thinks about fighting and killing and beating and _winning_ , and he thinks about now.

Now, with the Emperor spreading magic and the Witch-Queen ruling with a dragon at her side and Candia spread farther across Calorum than it ever has before and every inch of those lands beginning to animate with the magic he can’t ever remember being this vibrant and the teleportation circles aren’t just up and running but they are being added to and the armory is full of the hum of magic once again and he opens a cabinet and sees a chocolate hen.

He sees her tilt her beak in confusion and curiosity and he feels the memory of tiny necks breaking in his hands and he reaches forward and brings her forward and presses a kiss to her feathered head and it’s gentle and wondrous and Cumulous thinks- he could get used to being a seed guy.


End file.
